With its eye on residents’ pocketbooks, the Residence Hall Association passed two resolutions Sunday night.

One urges the University to explore dining services options and the other opposes a new security program University housing might implement next school year.

“Anything that increases the cost to students needs to be scrutinized, especially when it’s getting more difficult for students to afford to live on campus,” Residence Hall Association Vice President Mike May said.

The association is the University residence halls’ student governing body.

May co-sponsored the dining service resolution and said the University should look to other Big Ten schools as a guide for a new dining program.

The resolution condemns mandatory meal plans for residents and calls for a system that allows students to pay only for what they eat.

The current contract with Aramark Corporation is unacceptable and the University should exercise its right to opt out of the contract, May said.

University Dining Services is the partnership between the University and Aramark, May said.

“We’re really trying to send a strong signal to (University Dining Services) and the University that it’s not OK,” he said. “Things are not cool with University dining.”

The other resolution is in response to a security plan University Housing and Residential Life is considering implementing next year, May said.

The program would require residents to check in Thursday through Saturday nights, May said.

Housing and Residential Life Director Laurie McLaughlin said the push for the program is partly in response to incidents that have recently occurred at local college campuses.

May said that despite opposition from most residents, the University seems “dead set” on implementing the plan.

The resolution urges University housing to reconsider it and for a committee to explore other ways to improve residence hall safety.

Most students at the meeting questioned if they should pay for an inconvenience they believe will not increase safety.

But at least one residence hall representative said her students favor the plan.

“I think this resolution is an overreaction,” said Liz Underwood-Bultmann, the Roy Wilkins Hall representative. “We’re supposed to have our U Cards with us anyway – I don’t see what the big deal is.”

McLaughlin said the plan is similar to the Night Owl program that was in place two years ago. The safety initiative placed campus security monitors at residence hall entrances to check ID cards.

Students at the meeting complained the program was a failure because monitors inconsistently checked identification. They also said buildings’ multiple entrances allowed students to circumvent security.

McLaughlin said the new program would be the same as Night Owl except residence hall members would check identification, instead of campus security monitors.